Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LAS VEGAS — The next time the NBA comes to Las Vegas, the results will matter. Actually, that might depend on who you ask.
The NBA announced Saturday the full details for the new in-season tournament that will begin on Nov. 3 and conclude with a championship game in Vegas on Dec. 9.
"This is a concept that has been rumbling around the league office for about 15 years," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. "It's not a new concept in sports. For those that follow particularly international soccer, it's a long tradition of having in-season tournaments ... so we thought, what a perfect opportunity for a global league like the NBA and it's a perfect fit for our game."
Will this mean anything to fans or to players? We'll soon find out.
Here's a look at how this will all shake out:
The format
Each conference will split into five team groups. Each team will play the other group members once throughout November, and the teams with the best records in group play will advance to the knockout stage along with a wild card from each conference.
From there, it will be single elimination tournament, with the semifinals and finals being held in Las Vegas.
The groups
Groups were selected from pods based on records from last season. For example, the Jazz, who finished 12th in the West, were placed in the pod with the 10th- and 11th-placed teams.
Western Conference
West Group A: Memphis Grizzlies; Phoenix Suns; Los Angeles Lakers; Utah Jazz; Portland Trail Blazers
West Group B: Denver Nuggets; Los Angeles Clippers; New Orleans Pelicans; Dallas Mavericks; Houston Rockets
West Group C: Sacramento Kings; Golden State Warriors; Minnesota Timberwolves; Oklahoma City Thunder; San Antonio Spurs
Eastern Conference
East Group A: Philadelphia 76ers; Cleveland Cavaliers; Atlanta Hawks; Indiana Pacers; Detroit Pistons
East Group B: Milwaukee Bucks; New York Knicks; Miami Heat; Washington Wizards; Charlotte Hornets
East Group C: Boston Celtics; Brooklyn Nets; Toronto Raptors; Chicago Bulls; Orlando Magic
The schedule
The tournament will begin on Friday, Nov. 3 with the first group stage games. The group stage will continue until Nov. 28 with tournament games (which will also count as regular-season contests) being held on Tuesdays and Fridays. Each team will play two home games and two road games in group play.
The Jazz will host Portland and Phoenix, and play the Lakers and Grizzlies on the road.
The quarterfinals will be Dec. 4-5 at home markets. The semifinals (Dec. 7) and final (Dec. 9) will be played in Las Vegas.
What's the incentive?
You mean besides the newly created NBA Cup trophy?!
Players on the winning team will earn $500,000 apiece, and the runner-up teams will earn $200,000 apiece. Players who lose in the semifinals will get $100,000 apiece, and those who bow out in the quarterfinals will receive $50,000.
Will that be enough for fans to care? That's TBD.
How will this fit into the schedule?
It's been known since the initial announcement of the tournament that the league will only release an 80-game schedule when the 2023-24 slate is announced in the coming weeks.
Games 81 and 82 will be added in December. Teams that don't make the knockout stage will be assigned two games against other non-qualifiers, and those will be the missing two games on their schedules.
For the eight teams that make the knockout stage, the quarterfinal game will be the 81st game. Quarterfinal losers will play each other for their 82nd game. The semifinals will serve as the 82nd game for the remaining teams.
The NBA Cup Final will not count toward the standings — and, therefore, won't be counted in the season stats either.
Most recent Utah Jazz stories
Related topics
Ryan Miller
